What I Saw
by Pyr0-Kat
Summary: Clemont's journey is over- or so he claims. Returning home from a life changing pokemon adventure is never easy, especially when your journey follows you home and refuses to leave without you. Mostly follows the Anime, but with a few VG aspects mixed in for the finer details. DiodeShipping, or Ash/Clemont for those who are unfamiliar with the ship names.
1. Chapter 1

Lumoise City Gym- Prism Tower, as the locals refer to it. The shining glass surface reflected the sunlight harshly, making the huge electric type gym nearly impossible to look at when the sun was at it's current peak. Sighing, the yellow haired Gym Leader pushed his round glasses further up the bridge of his nose, lower his gaze from the top of the tower to the ground in between his feet. His gray shoes were tattered and crusted lightly with dried mud, the only visual evidence left from his long journey of traveling around the Kalos Region.

Only to end up back here, in front of his beloved gym once more, with nothing but a few holes and a little dirt to show for it.

A huff from his side pulled the boy out of his thoughts, drawing his vision away from the sun-soaked pavement to the crossed-armed figure of a disgruntled little sister. Her eyes were narrowed into slits, cating a sharp glare up at her older brother. He winced visibly from the stare, blinking slowly to try and form words to please the little girl.

"Bonnie…"

"Save it, Clemont! I don't wanna hear any more of your dumb apologies!" The blonde girl stomped off, hands balled into fists at her sides as she strode through the doors of the gym.

The motion sensors clicked audibly after she had vanished inside, leaving Clemont alone on the pathway in front of his gym. A tourist walked up beside him, taking Bonnies place with a camera pointing at the top of Prism Tower. Clemont rubbed the back of his neck with a sigh, squeezing his eyes shut before following his sister into the gym.

Yes, once he had gone on a journey with amazing friends, Pokemon and Human alike. But now his journey was over, and it was time to move on.

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><p><em><strong>Author Notes:<strong> Uploading this at the last seconds of Diodeshipping Day on tumblr. Of course, first chapter is going to be unreasonably short and do nothing much other than set the scene. I'm not really doing much planning for this fic, I really just wanted to write something 'cus diodeshipping is so damn rare c'mon now._


	2. Chapter 2

The rush of cool air brushed against his cheeks as Clemont entered the gym. _His_ gym.

Blinking a few times to get re-situated with the dim indoor lighting, the first floor slowly came into focus. The room was large and empty, save for the elevator in the very center. Bonnie climbed into her basket attached to the side of the platform, Dedenne's round black ears barely peeking out of her shoulder bag. The electric rodent shuffled silently in between the contents as Bonnie swung a leg over the railing; the usually boisterous Antenna pokemon lay solemn and silent at the side of his pouting trainer.

Clemont hesitantly took a step towards the elevator. Bonnie turned her head away from him, refusing to meet his eyes. The blonde boy sighed as his sister crossed her arms and huffed to further her point. Dragging his mud-crusted feet, the Gym Leader walked past the elevator and instead opened a back door, revealing a winding staircase leading to the middle section of the tower- where the battlefield lay. Clemont paused with the door open, debating whether to try to apologize again to his sister. After a few moments, the boy released his grip on the door knob to wipe his sweaty palm on the pants of his jumpsuit, and let the door swing shut behind him as he began the trek up the stairs.

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><p>The stairs ended at the base of the bleachers on the left side of the battlefield. Clemont huffed, wiping his forehead with a sleeve as the door swung shut behind him. Clembot stood ever diligent on his side of the field, eye's staring unblinking at the automatic sliding doors where challengers would enter via the elevator. Taking a few moments to catch his breath, Clemont began heading over to his robotic counterpart. Clembot emitted a few clicking noises as the sound of the blonde boy's foot falls registered, and it's head turned to the side, eyes blinking as it scanned the new challenger approaching from an unfamiliar angle. Clemont sheepishly raised a hand in greeting.<p>

"H-Hey, Clembot." His voice echoed slightly off of the metal walls of the gym, repeating his hesitancy to his own ears.

The robot blinked again, head following Clemont as he turned to stop in front of his metal doppelgänger. Another clicking noise echoed against the bleachers surrounding the pair- Clembot processing the greeting as his new voice recognition programming activated. "Greetings, Clemont! Have you returned from your Journey?" The Robot's head tilted politely.

Clemont's lips thinned into a small white line, but he managed a smile. "Y-yeah, it's over."

"Welcome home, then." The replacement Gym Leader put its hands together and bowed its entire upper body, the inner pistons and gears audibly hissing.

Clemont rested his hand on the robots cold shoulder as it raised back up to it's full height. "Thank you, Clembot. You've done so much work keeping the gym running in my absence. I'm sorry I was gone for so long."

The robot blinked, a series of question marks flashing over his eyes as he tried to process the apology. His metal eyelids shut again, opening to reveal his regular eyes. "Hmm?"

The blonde boy forced a smile, removing his hand from Clembot's shoulder. "Please follow me to the office, and I'll shut you down. You deserve a good rest."

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><p>Clemont held out his hand, hitting the center of the pokeball he held in it with his thumb. A flash of red light shot out from the opening, fading a moment later to reveal a large black and blue lion pokemon.<p>

"Hello, Luxray." Clemont greeted, running a hand through his mane as the large cat pokemon rubbed his head against its trainer's leg in greeting.

A deep purr reverberated from Luxray as Clemont scratched him behind the ears, though it turned into an annoyed growl when the blonde began walking away. Luxray padded after his trainer as the Gym Leader began exploring his old room, leaving the dark form of Clembot sitting limply in the corner and the entrance doors behind the two.

Trainer and pokemon stepped out into the larger room than the smaller side room where Clembot sat, shutdown. Luxray walked ahead, sniffing suspiciously at the new environment. The left wall was the wall of Prism Tower- a complete window, giving the pair a fantastic view of Lumiose City. A pair of couches sat across from each other near the glass wall, a small coffee table filled with discarded blueprints and inventions separating the futons. The opposite wall was almost completely covered by pinned up blueprints and papers with messy sketches of half-baked ideas, and a desk equally cluttered with three computer screens rising from the mess. The chair to the desk was slightly askew, and a mini fridge sitting next to the desk continuously droned, filling the air with a buzzing noise. The wall across from the Luxray and Clemont also held a few blueprints tapped on half-hazardly, and a single door leading to a bathroom. Luxray took in the room in a mild look of uninterest before padding over to jump on a couch and curly up for a nap.

"Out of the pokeball for a few moments, and you're already ready for a nap?" Clemont chuckled, pushing up his glasses. When Luxray didn't respond, Clemont headed over to his computer desk. He paused in front of it for a second, drumming his fingers against his leg. The room's familiarity made the returning Gym Leader nervous. His memories of spending days at a time in this room (only leaving when a challenger came or he ran out of food) felt like someone else's. He stepped forward, opening a drawer on the desk. It was half-filled with Voltage Badge's. Trying to keep his breathing steady, Clemont grabbed a handful and dropped them in his pocket.

The whoosh of the automatic doors opening drew Clemont's attention away from the pointed yellow badges. Even Luxray raised his head in curiousity. Small, quick footsteps gave away who the visitor was before she even rounded the corner. Bonnie stuck her head out of the wide entrance, ponytail bobbing and arm hugging the wall. Clemont opened his mouth to speak.

"You got a challenger." Bonnie piped before Clemont had a chance to speak.

"Oh. Thank you." Clemont tried to respond, but his little sister had already disappeared around the corner.

Scratching the back of his neck, Clemont shut the drawer and walked back to the smaller room. Luxray slid off the couch and followed after his master. Patting the pokemon's head, the pair walked back into the side room and through the sliding doors into the battlefield. Bonnie was tapping her foot impatiently, arms crossed. Dedenne had appeared on her head, tiny paws fidgeting in her hair, ears noticeably less perky.

A boy around the same age of Clemont stood on the challenger's side of the field, flashing a thumbs up sign at the two others Clemont assumed to be his companions sitting in the bleachers. The challenger had a blue baseball cap he wore backwards, and a pair of blue shorts with a yellow T-Shirt, a blue Sableye insignia on the front.

"C'mon, Clemont. Don't just stand there!" Bonnies shout startled the Gym Leader, causing him to fumble to re-adjust his round glasses. "If you're gonna be the gym leader, then act like it!"

Clemont glanced at his little sister. Her face was fuming, hands fists at her sides. Turning away from her, the blonde boy patted his pokemon's head.

"You sit out of this one, Luxray." He murmured hurriedly. "You're a bit too high-leveled to be a gym pokemon." Clemont smiled at the responding growl. "I'm sorry." Hurrying away, Clemont took his place at the opposite end on the field. The challenger looked surprised to see the blonde Gym Leader standing across from him.

"A-am I not going to be fighting the robot?" the boy looked like his earlier resolved had plummeted, and his grip on his pokeball faltered.

Clemont smiled, trying to sound reassuring. "Sorry. He was just holding my place for me-" The blonde took a deep breath before continuing, gripping a pokeball at his side to stop his hand from shaking. "I'm Clemont, the Gym Leader of Lumiose City."

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><p>Clemont was almost as nervous as the challenger during their fight. The Gym Leader's voice shook when he shouted commands, but his pokemon followed them through with no hesitation. However, the challenger emerged victorious.<p>

Clemot returned Heliolisk to his pokeball, murmuring an apology and thanks to the pokemon before putting it at his side with the others. The challenger's companions climbed off of the bleachers and ran to congratulate him as he sprayed his Furfrou with a potion, grinning from ear to ear. Clemont walked over to the celebration trio, digging in his pocket for a badge. The youngsters face lit up when Clemont held it out.

"That was a great battle," Clemont congratulated the winner, trying his best to give him a genuine smile. "Here. You've earned this." The Gym Leader placed the badge in the boys hand.

The challenger stared at his trophy for a long moment, eye's brimming with emotion. He looked up, lip quivering. "I'm-"

"Congratulations on beating the gym leader." Bonnie cut in, stepping in between Clemont and the boy, her back to her brother. "Follow me, and I'll take you down to elevator towards the exit and point you to the nearest pokecenter." Grabbing his sleeve, the challenger barely had time to return his furfrou to its pokeball as Bonnie dragged him off the battlefield. Confused, his companions followed, leaving Clemont standing in the center of the field on his own.

The automatic door shut behind the group, the sound of the pistons echoing slightly in the suddenly empty room. A few moments passed with Clemont standing in the middle of the room, his shoulders slumped and eyes hiding in the glare of his glasses. Luxray stood up and walked over, nudging Clemont's empty hand. The Gym Leader slowly sunk to the ground, sitting cross-legged in the sandy battlefield. Luxray made a soft noise from the back of his throat, circling his trainer a few times before laying down next to him.

Clemont reached out a hand at softly scratched the gleaming eyes pokemon behind an ear. "I'm sorry, Luxray." The blonde boy wiped his nose on a sleeve, taking a deep breath. "Please bear with me."

The two sat for a long time, Clemont leaning into Luxray's soft mane, the Gym Leader's breathing slowing until he was almost dozing. A soft growl from his pillow rose the boy.

Clemont rubbed an eye, lifting his glasses for a second. Groaning, he unwillingly rose his head. "Luxray? What's wrong?"

The black lion stood up, staring at the side door Clemont had entered through earlier in the day. The blonde froze, barely breathing as he strained his hearing. After a few moments, he could make out pounding footsteps from the direction of the stairway.

Clemot scrambled to his feet just as the door burst open. Looking up, he saw his little sister running onto the gym floor. Time seemed to slow down as their eyes locked for the first time that day. Clemont tore his gaze away from her's as two others followed her in- the blonde took a sharp intake of breath, and one step back, stumbling. Luxray growled at the newcomers, fur rising along his spine. Clemot told himself to look away, but couldn't bring himself to.

Bonnie ran into the gym, shortly followed by Ash, Pikachu, and lastly, Serina. The three humans stood there, facing Clemont, panting to catch their breath. Ash took one step forward, knuckles turning white at his side as he balled his hands into fists. The black haired boy gritted his teeth, eye's locking with the blonde's. Ash took a sharp intake of breath, and shouted.

"Clemont!"

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><p><em><strong>Author Notes:<strong> damn guys, thank for all the support! qoq I mean All I uploaded was an exposition first chapter with barely two paragraphs and it got a ton of support TTwTT you guys are great! Sorry for any typo's and such within this chapter, it's 2 am right now, but I wanted to finish this today cus y'all are amazing 33 All the plotting and suck is done for this story at this point (I know I said last chapter that I wasn't going to do any plotting but I LIED) So updates are only dependent on my laziness uou As always, please review! Reviews are my life energy owo_


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